A520.9.5.RB.Power

Are you comfortable developing sources of personal influence to gain power?

I feel that I would comfortable using my personal influence to gain power because it would be for the better of the organization.  It would be used to empower others and help them exceed their expectations.  Power needs to be balanced in order for it to work.  Power shouldn’t be used for my own personal gain and it is something that I will continue to work on and become more comfortable with.

Do you embody the characteristics of likeable people depicted in table 5.4 (pg. 290).

I can say that I definitely embody these characteristics pretty well but of course there is always room for improvement!  Being supportive to others by being open and honest with the relationships I have both at work and at home give me the confidence to be a better person and perhaps maintain long lasting relationships in and out of work.  When you are supporting others by helping them when they are overwhelmed with work or being honest with them when they make mistakes you are creating a loyal relationship with that person.  For example, our department is small and tight knit and we tend to fight like family however if we will defend each other to the death and will always back each up. 

They will know that they can rely on you in any aspect of their life.  It is important to be able to be emotionally available for others to support them.  You have to be able to empathize or sympathize with others and understand where they are coming from even if you can’t do anything to fix it you can be there and accept them for who they are.  Being and keeping a positive attitude makes a big difference in how you react to certain situations.  When you are upbeat and can accept others for who they are you can turn someone’s day from bad to good.  I find that my positive attitude (or positive Polly as my friend Leigh Ann calls me) is something that others look up to.  I have been told that my positive attitude is contagious and that when someone is down they can rely on me to bring them back up.  

It is important that you make sacrifices when needed to keep working relationships and even personal relationships working.  When I was approached by a friend at work who told me that she felt I was leaving her out of activities I listened and explained my side of the story.  I told her I didn’t realize that she felt left out and that I would make more of an effort to include her. It made me realize that you can’t expect any kind of relationship to just flow without some kind of work to maintain it.

Are you able to use influence both up and down your organization considering the information in table 5.5 (pg. 291)

After reviewing the information in table 5.5 I feel pretty confident that I would be able to use my influence both up and down my organization.  My directors’ goals are very clear and he makes a point to discuss with us what he is trying to do for us and our department.  There are a lot of pressures that he deals with on a daily basis between keeping up with federal regulations, student issues, meeting with his bosses and keeping his department running smoothly.

The only weaknesses that I see with my director is that he tends to take on so much meaning he wants to keep a lot of the pressure off of us so he will try to handle issues without us having to deal with them.  This in turn puts unneeded pressure on him that he shouldn’t have to worry about.  He also tends to be too nice from time to time.  He wants everyone to be happy but sometimes you just can’t do that.  I do understand why he does this though has it tends to keep us in harmony 99% of the time.

I know that when I bring something to my director that I feel with help with processes or a change in a regulation that may affect us he is open to suggestions and he listens and coaches me on how to move forward with it.  He is the type of person will do his best to make sure my suggestions are heard and will implement them if possible.  There are expectations that he has for me and I for him.  We have an honest and open work relationship and when I do something incorrectly I expect him to tell me and steer me in the right direction.  He knows he can depend on me to do my best and I can depend on him to guide and coach me to be the best I can be.